1. Summary of the Invention
This invention relates to athletic pants and, more particularly, to single layer tennis pants formed of panels knitted from elastomeric yarn.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the field of women's athletic garments, one layer pants have long been common in the field of bathing suits. Bathing suits, however, are intended to be worn in the water and as a result are normally wet during athletic activities. Women's bathing suits, particularly pants, are normally cut so as to be worn high on the sides of the wearer. As such, their use when playing out-of-water sports is ill advised since they tend to ride up causing discomfort, unsightliness and embarrassment to the wearer.
As a practical matter, all known women's athletic apparel designed specifically for non-water activities such as tennis are formed of a two layer construction, an interior cotton layer for the absorption of moisture and an exterior synthetic material for appearance. When such conventional pants construction is worn for tennis or other strenuous athletic activity out of the water, the perspiration of the wearer will become absorbed within the pants causing excessive weight. This constitutes an added burden to the athlete thereby decreasing performance. Further, the additional weight from perspiration also tends to cause the pants to fall from their intended raised position.
The inadequacies of known tennis pants and other women's athletic garments are well known and are evidenced by a large number of designs known and in commercial use. By way of example, consider U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,030 to Green which discloses a tennis panty but includes an inner cotton layer and an exterior layer of woven synthetic material. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,441 to Hauser; U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,323 to Kneibler; U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,312 to Laszlo disclose bathing suits of a one piece construction but including cut fabric in a configuration rendering them superior for sun bathing and in-water use but unacceptable for athletic use out-of-water. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 92,392 to Dwyer and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 266,540 to Nacinovich disclose swim trunks of the boxer style. Lastly, boxer style tennis panties with ball pockets are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,059 to Hayes; U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,549 to Ingram; U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,762 to Carini; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 238,828 to Reed.
The present invention is an improvement over the prior art tennis pants in that it is extremely comfortable, it wicks to move perspiration from interior of the pants adjacent to the wearer to exterior, it is extremely light weight while providing support at the appropriate locations of the wearer's body and it will not ride up during normal use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide athletic pants comprising in combination a plurality of basic panels extending from an upper edge at the front of the wearer's waistline, downwardly around the wearer's crotch, then upwardly to the back of the wearer's waistline and stitched together from the front waistline to the rear waistline, the basic panels being fabricated of a knit fabrication from extensible yarn; an elastic waistband coupled to the upper edge of the basic panels; a pair of support panels located interior of the basic panels and stitched thereto, the basic panels being constructed of a knit fabric from extensible yarn and with the support panels also being constructed of a knit fabric from an extensible yarn with the mesh of the support panels being of a greater elasticity than that of the basic panels; and a pair of pocket panels stitched over the sides of the base panels in an inverted U-shape configuration and with an extensible lower edge having an elastomeric hem at its lower edge thereof.
A further object of the present invention is to simplify the construction of women's tennis panties.
A further object of the present invention is to wick perspiration away from the wearer.
A further object of the present invention is to create maximum support to an athlete with minimum apparel weight.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.